244 
Beekeeping 
and may be united and placed wherever desired, but Ameri¬ 
can beekeepers rarely have occasion to use such methods. 
During a honey-flow, when the field bees are coming in 
heavily laden with nectar, the field bees of two colonies that 
are close together may be allowed to enter one hive and they 
do not molest each other. The queen to be saved should be 
caged for a day or two to overcome the danger of the strange 
bees killing her. When brood-rearing is reduced, as in the 
fall, the colony odor is apparently less influential, for less 
precaution is necessary in uniting. 
Learning the new location. 
Field bees return to the location of their hive and they 
remember the old location and return to it if the hive is 
moved. If two colonies to be united are not close together, 
they should be moved gradually nearer, perhaps a foot 
every day that the bees can fly, until they are side by side. 
The bees learn each location in succession and after uniting 
they will not return to the original position and be lost. 
If it is necessary to move the colonies faster, they may be 
put into the new place and a pile of brush or weeds or a 
slanting board placed in front of the entrance so that when 
the bees fly out they will perceive a change and learn the new 
location. If it is desired to unite two weak swarms, this 
may be done simply by placing them together, either in the 
hive or on the hive entrance. Swarming bees abandon the 
memory of the old location (p. 180); they are full of honey 
and may be placed anywhere. The better queen should be 
saved and the other removed or the bees may separate into 
clusters. Swarms may be added to newly .established colo¬ 
nies if desired. 
If queenless colonies are found in early spring which are 
to be united with normal colonies, the usual practice is to 
place them on top of the normal colony. Few bees return 
and there is usually no trouble as such bees seem ready to go 
to any colony. 
